US12021941B2

Movatterモバイル変換

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Publication number: US12021941B2
Application number: US17/543,712
Authority: US
Inventors: Chang-Lan Tsai; Kai-Wen Chen; Yu-Chieh Wang
Original assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI
Current assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI
Priority date: 2021-10-27
Filing date: 2021-12-06
Publication date: 2024-06-25
Also published as: CN116033005B; CN116033005A; JP2023065287A; JP7206428B1; TWI784773B; US20230126312A1; TW202318838A

Abstract

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 110139938, filed on Oct. 27, 2021. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to an enrichment information (EI) processing technology.

BACKGROUND

The characteristics of large bandwidth, low latency, multiple connections, and multiple frame structures provided by 5G may meet a variety of applications with different needs. However, due to the different requirements of various applications, device differences, environmental changes, etc., it is difficult to design the best configuration (system parameters, such as handover measurement and handover timing) in advance to achieve the best performance.

Starting from the maintenance needs of operators, the O-RAN Alliance proposes a 5G communication system architecture with software/hardware deconstruction and network function virtualization, as well as two management components: the service management and orchestration (SMO) and the radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller (RIC). According to the deployment environment and real-time usage conditions, network performance may be analyzed and predicted, and active network configuration or control may be adopted to maintain the quality required by various applications. In addition to obtaining available information from RAN, SMO and RIC are also allowed to make better judgments and decisions if the enrichment information (EI) may be supplemented from outside the network.

RIC may manage the use of wireless resources of the base stations, such as a handover policy, a change in the amount of use of the wireless resources, quality of service (QoS) limitation, and other applications. If external information and enrichment information are needed to improve performance, RIC itself must provide a unified, convenient, and efficient interface and procedures, including enrichment information type query, initiation of requests, information update, task establishment, task deletion, etc.

Therefore, how to design the abovementioned interface and program for RIC is an important issue for a person having ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY

In view of the above, the disclosure provides a method for obtaining enrichment information and a controller configured to solve the above technical problems.

To make the aforementioned more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with drawings are described in detail as follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG.1 is a diagram illustrating an architecture of an open radio access network (O-RAN).

FIG.2 is a diagram illustrating an internal architecture of a near-real-time radio access network intelligent controller (near-RT RIC).

FIG.3 is a diagram illustrating various application programming interfaces (APIs) in the near-RT RIC.

FIG.4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a controller according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG.5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for obtaining enrichment information according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG.6 is a diagram illustrating an application scenario according to a first embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG.7A is a diagram illustrating an application scenario according to a second embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG.7B is a diagram illustrating another application scenario according to the second embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG.8 is a diagram illustrating an application scenario according to a third embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG.9A andFIG.9B are diagrams illustrating application scenarios according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

The O-RAN Alliance is an alliance dominated by operators, calling on equipment vendors to join to jointly define an open interface and an automatic and intelligent network management architecture. The O-RAN architecture proposed by the O-RAN Alliance is shown inFIG.1.

The O-RAN architecture shown inFIG.1 includes service management and orchestration (SMO), a non-real-time radio access network intelligent controller (non-RT RIC), a near-real-time radio access network intelligent controller (near-RT RIC), an O-RAN central unit (O-CU), an O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU), and an O-RAN radio unit (O-RU).

The SMO may communicate with each managed component through the O1 interface to achieve behaviors, such as (1) fault (error), configuration, accounting, performance, and fault management (FCAPS management) and safety management; (2) collection of performance data and access to a network and user performance data. In addition, the SMO may communicate with a cloud platform (O-RAN Cloud, O-Cloud) through an O2 interface to achieve behaviors such as orchestrating cloud platform resources.

The non-RT RIC may communicate with near-RT RIC through an A1 interface. In some embodiments, the non-RT RIC transmits an A1 policy to the near-RT RIC through the A1 interface. The A1 policy includes, but not limited to, quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE), traffic steering, etc.

In addition, the non-RT RIC may further train a machine learning model, execute a machine learning model, or configure a machine learning model to the near-RT RIC, so that the near-RT RIC may execute the machine learning model, but it is not limited thereto.

The near-RT RIC may communicate with the O-CU and O-DU through an E2 interface to realize (1) collection, analysis, and monitoring of network information and user information from the O-CU and O-DU and (2) operations such as controlling of O-CU and O-DU behaviors or parameters.

In addition, the near-RT RIC may run applications (xApps) to realize the radio resource management (RRM) function. Further, the near-RT RIC may also provide an application programming interface (API) for interacting with the xApps.

The O-CU, O-DU, and O-RU may respectively support the functions of a centralized unit/distributed unit/and radio unit defined by 3GPP and may all support an O1 interface.

Besides, the O-CU may be further divided into a control unit (O-RAN central unit control plane, O-CU-CP) and a user unit (O-RAN central unit user plane, O-CU-UP). Moreover, the O-DU and O-RU support an open-fronthaul interface (OFH interface) defined by O-RAN.

With reference toFIG.2 andFIG.3,FIG.2 is a diagram illustrating an internal architecture of a near-RT RIC, andFIG.3 is a diagram illustrating various APIs in the near-RT RIC. As shown inFIG.2 andFIG.3, the near-RT RIC includes basic function and applications (xApps). The APIs are interfaces that support the xApps and are divided into five categories: A1 Related APIs, E2 Related APIs, management APIs, enablement APIs, and shared data layer (SDL) APIs.

Regarding the A1 interface, currently, the O-RAN Alliance has defined related APIs and procedures such as A1 policy setup, A1 policy update, and A1 policy deletion. Regarding the SDL, the O-RAN Alliance has defined APIs and procedures such as SDL client registration/deregistration, data fetching/storing/modifying, subscription/notification, subscription/push, etc.

Details of the content ofFIG.1 toFIG.3 may be found with reference to “0-RAN.WG1.O-RAN-Architecture-Description-v04.00” and “O-RAN.WG2.A1AP-v03.00”, and the content is incorporated into the specification by reference and thus is not be repeated herein.

However, in the related specifications of O-RAN, the mechanism for the xApps to process enrichment information through APIs is not defined. In view of the above, the disclosure provides a method for obtaining enrichment information and a controller configured to solve the above technical problems.

With reference toFIG.4, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a controller according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. In the embodiments of the disclosure, acontroller400 may be a RAN controller of various types, such as a RIC, but may not be limited thereto. As shown inFIG.4, thecontroller400 includes an enrichmentinformation handling circuit401, adatabase403, an enrichmentinformation connection interface405, and afirst application407.

InFIG.4, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401, thedatabase403, and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may be connected to one another. In some embodiments, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may be configured to be connected to anenrichment information provider499 outside thecontroller400. In an embodiment, after obtaining enrichment information of specific devices, theenrichment information provider499 may send the obtained enrichment information to the enrichmentinformation connection interface405, and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may, for example, provide the enrichment information to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 and thedatabase403 for subsequent use, but it is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, thedatabase403 is, for example, a database corresponding to the SDL, and may be used to store the abovementioned enrichment information, but it is not limited thereto.

In the embodiments of the disclosure, thecontroller400 may run a plurality of applications (i.e., the xApps), and thefirst application407 is, for example, one of these xApps. For ease of understanding, the following takes thefirst application407 as an example to illustrate the way it interacts with the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401, thedatabase403, and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405, and a person having ordinary skill in the art should be able to deduce other ways for the xApps to interact with the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401, thedatabase403, and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 accordingly.

With reference toFIG.5, which is a flow chart illustrating a method for obtaining enrichment information according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The method provided by this embodiment may be executed by thecontroller400 inFIG.4, and each step inFIG.5 is described in detail together with the elements shown inFIG.4.

First, in step S510, in response to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 receiving a first creation request CRQ1 associated with a first user device D1 from thefirst application407, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 queries whether thedatabase403 stores a first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1.

In step S520, in response to determining that thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 triggers thefirst application407 to subscribe to thedatabase403 for enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1.

In step S530, in response to presence of a second enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 in thedatabase403, thedatabase403 pushes the second enrichment information to thefirst application407.

In order to make the above concepts easier to understand, the following is supplemented withFIG.6 for further explanation, andFIG.6 is a diagram illustrating an application scenario according to a first embodiment of the disclosure.

InFIG.6, it is assumed that thefirst application407 needs the enrichment information of the first user device D1, so thefirst application407 may send the first creation request CRQ1 associated with the first user device D1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 in step S601.

In an embodiment, the first creation request CRQ1 may instructs at least one of an enrichment information type, a device identity of the first user device D1, an enrichment information format, a reply instruction, a reply period, and a timestamp instruction. In some embodiments, the reply instruction may instruct whether to reply to thefirst application407 immediately after the enrichment information of the first user device D1 is obtained. The reply period may instruct a period for obtaining the enrichment information of the first user device D1. The timestamp instruction may instruct whether to add a timestamp to the enrichment information of the first user device D1.

In an embodiment, the first creation request CRQ1 may be configured to request creation of a first enrichment information job object OB1 corresponding to the first user device D1. Further, the first enrichment information job object OB1 includes at least one of the enrichment information type, a job return URL (e.g., URI), a job status reminder URL, an information format type, the reply instruction, the reply period, and the timestamp instruction.

When the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 receives the first creation request CRQ1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send a first query request QRQ1 to thedatabase403 in response to the first creation request CRQ1 in step S602. The first query request QRQ1 may be configured to query whether thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1.

Correspondingly, thedatabase403 may query whether thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 in response to the first query request QRQ1 and sends a first query response QRR1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 according to a first query result of the first query request QRQ1 in step S603.

In some embodiments, the first query request QRQ1 may include the device identity of the first user device D1 and an object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1. In addition, the first query response QRR1 may include the device identity of the first user device, the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1, and a query status field. The query status field may instruct whether thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1. In an embodiment, when the query status field is a first value (e.g., 1), it may mean that thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1. Further, when the query status field is a second value (e.g., 0), it may mean that thedatabase403 does not store the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1, but it is not limited thereto.

For ease of description, it is assumed that thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 inFIG.6. In this case, the query status field of the first query response QRR1 may be set to the first value through thedatabase403, so as to notify the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401.

When the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 receives the first query response QRR1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may determine that the first query response QRR1 instructs that thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 according the query status field presented as the first value, so as to further determine that thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1.

In this case, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send a first creation response CRR1 to thefirst application407 in step S604. In an embodiment, the first creation response CRR1 may include the enrichment information type, the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1, job content of the first enrichment information job object OB1, and a creation status field. The creation status field may instruct whether the first enrichment information job object OB1 is successfully created.

In an embodiment, when the creation status field is the first value (e.g., 1), it may mean that the first enrichment information job object OB1 is successfully created. Further, when the creation status field is the second value (e.g., 0), it may mean that the first enrichment information job object OB1 is not successfully created, but it is not limited thereto.

In the scenario ofFIG.6, since thedatabase403 stores the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1, this means that the first enrichment information work object OB1 is created. Therefore, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may set the creation status field of the first creation response CRR1 to the first value to notify thefirst application407.

In an embodiment, in response to thefirst application407 determines that the first creation response CRR1 instructs that the first enrichment information job object OB1 is successfully created, the first application may send a first tracking message TM1 corresponding to the first enrichment information job object OB1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 in step S605. In an embodiment, the first tracking message TM1 may instruct the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1 and is configured to register and track the enrichment information of the first user device D1 with the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401.

Next, in step S606, thefirst application407 may send a first subscription message SM1 to thedatabase403. The first subscription message SM1 instructs to subscribe to thedatabase403 for the enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1.

Next, in step S607, in response to presence of the second enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 in thedatabase403, thedatabase403 may push the second enrichment information to thefirst application407.

InFIG.6, thefirst application407 and the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send various requests/responses/messages as shown through APIs related to the enrichment information. Besides, thefirst application407 and the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may individually exchange various data as shown with thedatabase403 through APIs related to the SDL.

With reference toFIG.7A, which is a diagram illustrating an application scenario according to a second embodiment of the disclosure. In step S701, thefirst application407 may send the first creation request CRQ1 associated with the first user device D1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401. In step S702, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send the first query request QRQ1 to thedatabase403 in response to the first creation request CRQ1. In step S703, thedatabase403 may send the first query response QRR1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 according to a first query result of the first query request QRQ1. The content of steps S701 to S703 may be found with reference to the description related to steps S601 to S603 inFIG.6, so description thereof is not repeated herein.

In the scenario ofFIG.7A, it is assumed that in thedatabase403 does not store the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1. In this case, the query status field of the first query response QRR1 may be set to the second value through thedatabase403, so as to notify the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401.

When the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 receives the first query response QRR1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may determine that the first query response QRR1 instructs that thedatabase403 does not store the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 according the query status field presented as the second value, so as to further determine that thedatabase403 does not store the first enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 (i.e., the first enrichment information job object OB1 is not created yet).

In this case, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send a second query request QRQ2 to the enrichmentinformation connection interface405. The second query request QRQ2 may instruct the enrichment information type. Correspondingly, in step S705, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may query whether theenrichment information provider499 supports the enrichment information type.

In different embodiments, theenrichment information provider499 may return a first response message RM1 to the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 in step S706 based on whether theenrichment information provider499 itself supports the aforementioned enrichment information type.

In the scenario ofFIG.7A, it is assumed that the first response message RM1 instructs that theenrichment information provider499 supports the enrichment information type. In this case, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may request theenrichment information provider499 to create the first enrichment information job object OB1 in step S707. In other embodiments, if the first response message RM1 instructs that theenrichment information provider499 does not support the enrichment information type, the mechanism shown inFIG.7B may be correspondingly executed in this embodiment, and details thereof is to be described in following paragraphs.

InFIG.7A, after theenrichment information provider499 completes creation of the first enrichment information job object OB1 according to the request made by the enrichmentinformation connection interface405, the enrichment information provide499 may return a second response message RM2 to the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 to notify the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 in step S708.

Thereafter, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may send the second query response QRR2 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 in step S709. In an embodiment, the second query response QRR2 may instruct successful creation of the first enrichment information job object OB1 and includes the enrichment information type, the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1, and the job content of the first enrichment information job object OB1.

Next, in step S710, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send the first creation response CRR1 to thefirst application407. In step S711, the first application may send the first tracking message TM1 corresponding to the first enrichment information job object OB1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401. In step S712, thefirst application407 may send the first subscription message SM1 to thedatabase403.

The content of steps S710 to S712 may be found with reference to the description related to steps S604 to S606 inFIG.6, so description thereof is not repeated herein.

In step7A, when theenrichment information provider499 obtains the second enrichment information of the first user device D1, theenrichment information provider499 may send the second enrichment information to the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 in step S713. In an embodiment, the second enrichment information may include the device identity of the first user device D1, status information of the first user device D1, and a timestamp. In some embodiments, the status information of the first user device D1 includes, for example, location information of the first user device D1 corresponding to the timestamp, but it is not limited thereto.

In an embodiment, when the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 receives the second enrichment information from theenrichment information provider499 in step S713, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may store the second enrichment information to thedatabase403 in step S714.

Next, in step S715, in response to presence of the second enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 in thedatabase403, thedatabase403 may push the second enrichment information to thefirst application407.

With reference toFIG.7B, which is a diagram illustrating another application scenario according to the second embodiment of the disclosure. InFIG.7B, the content of steps S701 to S706 may be found with reference to the description related toFIG.7A, so description thereof is not repeated herein. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the first response message RM1 instructs that theenrichment information provider499 does not support the enrichment information type. In this case, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may send a third query response QRR3 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 in step S716. The third query response QRR3 instructs unsuccessful creation of the first enrichment information job object OB1 and includes the enrichment information type, the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1, and the job content of the first enrichment information job object OB1.

Thereafter, in step S717, in response to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 receives the third query response QRR3, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send a second creation response CRR2 to thefirst application407. The second creation response CRR2 instructs that the first enrichment information job object OB1 is not successfully created.

InFIG.7A andFIG.7B, thefirst application407 and the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send various requests/responses/messages as shown through APIs related to the enrichment information. Besides, thefirst application407, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401, and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may individually exchange various data as shown with thedatabase403 through APIs related to the SDL. Moreover, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit405 and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may send various requests/responses/messages as shown through APIs related to the A1 interface.

With reference toFIG.8, which is a diagram illustrating an application scenario according to a third embodiment of the disclosure. In this embodiment, when thefirst application407 intends to stop tracking the enrichment information of the first user device D1, thefirst application407 may send a first delete request DQ1 to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 in step S801 to request deletion of the first enrichment information job object OB1.

Next, in step S802, in response to the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 receives the first delete request DQ1 of deleting the first enrichment information job object OB1 from thefirst application407, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may cancel tracking of the enrichment information of the first user device by thefirst application407.

Moreover, in step S803, thefirst application407 may send a first subscription cancellation message USM1 to thedatabase403. The first subscription cancellation message USM1 instructs to unsubscribe to thedatabase403 for the enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1.

In an embodiment, after receiving the first delete request DQ1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may determine whether other applications in thecontroller400 still need to access the enrichment information of the first user device D1.

In an embodiment, if other applications in thecontroller400 still need to access the enrichment information of the first user device D1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may not continue to request theenrichment information provider499 to delete the first enrichment information job object OB1 through the enrichmentinformation connection interface405.

In another embodiment, if there is no other application in thecontroller400 that needs to access the enrichment information of the first user device D1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send a second deletion request DQ2 to thedatabase403 in step S803. The second delete request DQ2 includes the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1.

In addition, if there is no other application in thecontroller400 that needs to access the enrichment information of the first user device D1, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may further send a third deletion request DQ3 to the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 in step S804. The third delete request DQ3 includes the object identity of the first enrichment information job object OB1.

Correspondingly, in step S805, the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may request theenrichment information provider499 maintaining the first enrichment information job object OB1 to delete the first enrichment information job object OB1 in response to the third delete request DQ3. In an embodiment, after theenrichment information provider499 deletes the first enrichment information job object OB1, a third response message RM3 may be returned in step S806 to notify the enrichmentinformation connection interface405.

In step S807, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send a delete success response DR to thefirst application407. The delete success response DR instructs that the first enrichment information job object OB1 is deleted.

InFIG.8, thefirst application407 and the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may send various requests/responses/messages as shown through APIs related to the enrichment information. Besides, thefirst application407, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401, and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may individually exchange various data as shown with thedatabase403 through APIs related to the SDL. Moreover, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 and the enrichmentinformation connection interface405 may send various requests/responses/messages as shown through APIs related to the A1 interface.

Through the mechanism taught in the foregoing embodiments, it can be seen that in the disclosure, the xApps may conveniently and effectively create/delete the enrichment information job object and obtain the interface/mechanism/procedure of the enrichment information. In this way, the xApps may further execute other applications based on the obtained enrichment information.

For instance, when a communication device is moving, its serving base station may need to be handed over to a target base station through a handover procedure as the communication device moves. The principle of determining whether to handover the communication device to the target base station is based on the difference of the reference signal receiving power (RSRP) measured by the communication device on the serving base station and other neighbor base stations.

In applications such as a flying machine racing competition, the lens image of the flying machine (a user device, for example) needs to be transmitted to the person controlling the flying machine through relevant mobile communication technology (e.g., the 4th/5th generation communication system (hereinafter referred to as 4G/5G)). In the competition venue, there are other devices other than the flying machine that need to be connected to the 4G/5G network, so two small base stations may be required to be set up.

Generally, there are no large-scale shelters in the competition field of the flying machines, so the junction of the two base stations may be set as the handover zone. In this scenario, the difference between the RSRP received by the flying machine from the two base stations is only a decimal level, but the RSRP must be an integer value in the format of the related measurement report defined in the 4G/5G system standard. Besides, coupled with the environmental changes and measurement errors that may be caused by random factors, it may lead to inaccurate handover decisions and delays. In the flying machine racing application scenarios where fast speed is required, improper handover or handover failure may lead to delay or intermittent transmission of the lens image of the flying machine, and control accuracy of the flying machine and competition results may thus be affected.

In the case that RSRP is not appropriate as a method for handover judgment, if the accurate location of the flying machine may be obtained, the handover judgment procedure should be made more accurate, and the above situation is thus prevented from occurring.

With reference toFIG.9A andFIG.9B, which are diagrams illustrating application scenarios according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. InFIG.9A andFIG.9B, it is assumed that the first user device D1 is the above-mentioned flying machine, and the first user device D1 may be equipped with a lens and a communication circuit. The communication circuit is, for example, a circuit capable of performing 4G/5G communication and may be used to stream an image captured by the lens to a person controlling the first user device D1, but it is not limited thereto. In addition, abase station901 and abase station902 are, for example, 4G/5G base stations installed in a flyingmachine competition field999.

Further, compared to thecontroller400 inFIG.4, acontroller900 inFIG.9 may further include a basestation connection interface409 connected to the

base stations

901 and902.

InFIG.9A andFIG.9B, a location detection device may be installed on the first user device D1, which can measure the location of the first user device D1 in the flyingmachine competition field999 through technologies such as ultra wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc., for example. In an embodiment, a plurality of anchor stations P1 to P4 may be provided in the flyingmachine competition field999, which may individually emit beacon signals. In this case, the location detection device may perform triangulation based on these beacon signals, so as to detect the location of the first user device D1 in the flyingmachine competition field999 and correspondingly send this location to theenrichment information provider499.

In an embodiment, theenrichment information provider499 may treat the location of the first user device D1 as the enrichment information corresponding to the first user device D1 and provide it to thecontroller900, so that thecontroller900 is allowed to execute a handover policy associated with the first user device D1.

In an embodiment, since thecontroller900 may not know that the communication circuit on the first user device D1 corresponds to the enrichment information provided by the location detection device, thecontroller900 may perform the following operations first, to find the association between the communication circuit and the enrichment information.

In an embodiment, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may receive a reference signal power sequence of a plurality of nearby base stations measured by the communication circuit from the base station connection interface4096. In an embodiment, assuming that there are k base stations near the communication circuit, and the reference signal power sequence from the t^thtime point to the t-M^thtime point may be characterized as R={R_BS1(t), R_BS2(t), . . . , R_BSk(t), R_BS1(t−1), R_BS2(t−1), . . . , R_BSk(t−1), . . . , RR_BS1(−t M), R_BS2(t−M), . . . , R_BSk(t−M)}.

Further, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may receive the enrichment information (i.e., the location of the first user device DO of the first user device D1 provided by theenrichment information provider499 from the enrichmentinformation connection interface405. In an embodiment, the location from the t^thtime point to the t-N^thtime point of the first user device D1 may be characterized as P={x(t), y(t), z(t), x(t−1), y(t−1), z(t−1), . . . , x(t−N), y(t−N), z(t−N)}.

Next, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may build a specific association between the enrichment information of the first user device D1 and the communication circuit based on the reference signal power sequence (i.e., R) and the enrichment information (i.e., P) of the first user device D1 and records the specific association into thedatabase403.

In an embodiment, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may input R and P into a classifier, where the classifier may be implemented as a first neural network. In an embodiment, an input layer of the first neural network may be the aforementioned R and P, and a dimension of the input layer may be a (k(M+1)+3(N+1)) vector. Besides, an output layer dimension of the first neural network may be 2, representingClass 1 andClass 0. In some embodiments, the first neural network may further include a plurality of hidden layers, but it is not limited thereto.

In an embodiment, after the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 inputs R and P into the classifier, if an output value ofClass 1 is greater than an output value ofClass 0, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may determine that a specific association is provided between R and P and may record the specific association into thedatabase403. In contrast, if the output value ofClass 1 is not greater than the output value ofClass 0, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may determine that a specific association is not provided between R and P.

In an embodiment, supervised learning may be adopted for the training of the first neural network, and a plurality of sets of location data and their corresponding RSRP data may be retrieved in advance. In the process of training this first neural network, when the inputted location data is its corresponding RSRP data, the output value ofClass 1 is 1 and the output value ofClass 0 is 0, and when the inputted location data is not its corresponding RSRP data, the output value ofClass 1 is 0 and the output value ofClass 0 is 1, but it is not limited thereto.

In another embodiment, the enrichmentinformation handling circuit401 may input R and P into a correlator, where the correlator may be implemented as a second neural network. In an embodiment, an input layer of the second neural network may be the aforementioned R and P, and the dimension of the input layer may be a (k(M+1)+3(N+1)) vector. Besides, the output layer dimension of the second neural network may be 1, representing correlation (between 0 and 1). In some embodiments, the output layer may be implemented through selection of an activation function that meets this range, such as a Sigmoid function, but it is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the second neural network may further include a plurality of hidden layers, but it is not limited thereto.

In an embodiment, supervised learning may be adopted for the training of the second neural network, and a plurality of sets of location data and their corresponding RSRP data may be retrieved in advance. In the process of training this second neural network, when the inputted location data is its corresponding RSRP data, the output value is 1, and when the inputted location data is not its corresponding RSRP data, the output value is 0, but it is not limited thereto.

In the scenarios ofFIG.9A andFIG.9B, since the enrichment information of the first user device D1 is assumed to be the location of the first user device D1, the information format type in the corresponding first enrichment information job object OB1 may instruct the location of the first user device D1 in terms of coordinates or latitude and longitude. Besides, the reply instruction in the first enrichment information job object OB1 may instruct whether to reply to the location of the first user device D1 immediately. The reply period in the first enrichment information job object OB1 may instruct a period for replying the location of the first user device D1. The timestamp instruction in the first enrichment information job object OB1 may instruct whether to mark the location of the first user device D1 with a corresponding timestamp.

In an embodiment, assuming that the first enrichment information job object OB1 is provided with the form illustrated in Table 1 below, and the enrichment information of the corresponding first user device D1 may be provided with the content illustrated in Table 2 below.

TABLE 1

First enrichment information job object

	Enrichment information type	UePosition-v1.0
	Job return URL	https://eiJob/1/result
	Job status reminder URL	https://eiJob/1/status

Job definition	Information	Location format 1 (i.e.,
	format type	coordinates)
	Whether to reply	No
	immediately
	Reply period	100 (milliseconds)
	Whether to add a	Yes
	timestamp

TABLE 2

Enrichment information of first user device D1

Device identity

1234567

Location format 1	x axis	35
	y axis	25
	z axis	4
Timestamp	seconds	3
	milliseconds	100

In an embodiment, thecontroller900 may determine whether the communication circuit needs to be handed over from a serving base station (e.g., the base station901) among the aforementioned base stations) to a target base station (e.g., the base station902) according to the enrichment information (i.e., location) of the first user device D1. In response to determining that the communication circuit needs to be handed over from the serving base station to the target base station, thecontroller900 may, through the basestation connection interface409, control the serving base station to handover the communication circuit to the target base station. For instance, when thecontroller900 determines that the location of the first user device D1 is located at the junction of the

base stations

901 and902, thecontroller900 may determine that the communication circuit needs to be handed over from the serving base station to the target base station and further controls the serving base station to handover the communication circuit to the target base station through the basestation connection interface409, but it is not limited thereto.

In other embodiments, the concepts ofFIG.9A andFIG.9B may also be applied to other occasions. For instance, when a self-driving car moves in a specific field, thecontroller900 that manages the self-driving car may determine whether to perform a handover operation for the self-driving car according to the above teachings and the enrichment information (e.g., location) of the self-driving car.

In view of the foregoing, through the mechanism provided by the embodiments of the disclosure, the applications in the RIC may conveniently and effectively create/delete the enrichment information job object and obtain the interface/mechanism/procedure of the enrichment information. In this way, the applications in the RIC may further execute other applications based on the obtained enrichment information.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure covers modifications and variations provided that they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.